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Named one of the funniest voices in inspirational romance by Booklist, Jen Turano is a
USA Today bestselling author known for penning quirky historical romances set in the
Gilded Age. She and her family live outside of Ormond Beach, Florida.

More from Jen

Welcome Jen! Why don’t you start off by telling us a little about “In Pursuit of Civility.

Thank you so much for hosting me. It’s always exciting to release a new book, and “In Pursuit of Civility” is no exception to that. The short telling of what the book’s about is this – it’s the second installment in the Merriweather Academy for Young Ladies series, and readers will get to travel with Annaliese Merriweather as she tries to adapt to being given the position of temporary headmistress of the academy while her sister goes off on holiday. Clearly, Annaliese is going to have some trouble with this new position, that idea proven when two of her students go missing – and on purpose – and go missing not once, but twice. That right there is exactly why Annaliese finds herself going off with the oh-so-charming Mr. Seth McCormick (and don’t worry, his mother is going off with them to chaperone) to track down her erstwhile students, finding herself involved in quite the adventure, and one that might include a bit of romance.

Annaliese Merriweather is a lady who enjoys saving animals. Any reason why you chose that particular pursuit for her?

Years ago, when reading up on John Astor, I was appalled to discover that, while he amassed a fortune that was unheard of back in the nineteenth century, he did so by completely decimating the beaver population. That always stuck with me, as did what happened to the bird population due to overzealous plume hunters during that time, those plume hunters staying in business because ladies wanted to adorn their hats with an overabundance of feathers. I’d been waiting for the right storyline to come up where I could add an animal advocate, and when Annaliese popped to mind when I was crafting the outline for the Merriweather series, I knew she was going to be the lady I was going to use to bring just a little attention to what happened to birds and beavers during the Industrial Revolution.

Were there any parts of this book that gave you trouble?

While I would love to say “Of course not,” that just wouldn’t be true because all of my stories give me trouble at some point. This one happened relatively early on because, at first, I had Annaliese rescue a whole mess of animals in the first couple chapters. I knew full-well that I had too many, but you know how I love writing those animal scenes, so…I left all of them in the original draft that I sent to my editors, knowing they’d spot the issue, but then leaving it up to them to suggest which animals I should cut. I’m sad to say that Bart the Bear got the boot. Yes, that’s right. However, because I was so attached to darling Bart, he makes an appearance in the third and final book of the series “A Dash of Decorum.”

What is a question you get asked the most as an author?

That’s an easy one because people always ask me if I always dreamed of being a writer, and…nope. I really wanted to be a singer – and yes, I can carry a tune – but I suffer from extreme stage fright and anytime I would get up in front of an audience I would turn all sorts of queasy. That’s why I abandoned that dream and majored in fashion. I just started writing as something fun to do with my son when he was in elementary school, and it turned out that I really enjoyed it. It took me five years and seven manuscripts to secure a literary agent, and then it took her about a year before she sold “A Change of Fortune” for me. I’ve been writing ever since.

If you had to pick a character from your book to be stuck in a haunted academy with – since the Merriweather Academy was rumored to be haunted in book one – who would it be?

I’d definitely go with Miss Seraphina Livingston because she has all of those delicious secrets, and secrets that revolve around how she’s capable of wielding a pistol with ease, taking out assailants with a good round-kick to the head, and…she might know a thing or two about how best to use dynamite to get out of a tricky situation.

How has your writing evolved since you began writing?

I definitely write a tighter story these days, and I’m also more mindful of making sure my chapters are moving the story along at a rapid pace. Having had the pleasure of working with an editing team for years now, it’s like they’re sitting on my shoulder as I write that first draft, saying things like “Nope, that’s a total distraction from plot,” which is rather annoying, but saves me a lot of time in the end.

What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

To always remember that it’s all about the reader. That means that an author needs to know their audience and write accordingly. Every genre has specific unwritten rules, and the best way to understand those rules is to make sure a writer reads a ton of books in the genre they’re hoping to get published in.

What are you working on now?

I recently turned in developmental edits for the third and final book in the Merriweather series, “A Dash of Decorum.” That’s the step where I’ve turned in a first draft – although know that I go through a book seven times before I turn it in – and then my editors send me their suggestions. I then end up rewriting a good portion of the book because of ripple effects, and then turn it in again. I’m now waiting for them to send me copy/line edits, which aren’t all that difficult to do since I’m just making sure that nothing got cut during the editing process that I want to keep in. I also just turned in the first draft of a Christmas story I wrote, but I was really early with that one, so I won’t be seeing developmental edits for a while. And, the reason I turned that in early is because I just signed a new three-book contract and I need to get started on the first book of the Bluestocking series.

Thank you so much for hosting me. I appreciate everyone stopping in to see what I’ve been doing lately.

All the best,

Jen